Below The Fold

What’s up?

I don’t know. I mean the last two-and-a-half months have been spent with blinders on, simply meeting deadlines and demands. Highs and lows like a bi-polar nut off his meds.

Lot of gigs last month, which is good, mostly. Helped the creative muscles keep from festering too much given the write-by-wrote nature of my curent existence.

Home’s been tough. Amy’s Fibromyalgia and UCTD have been in a pretty steady flare since December (when she went off her meds cold turkey because of the pregnancy). The carpal tunnel in her left hand has gotten so severe, surgery’s the recommended course. The doctors we’ve talked to have been pretty impressive, especially the surgeon, a woman in her late 40s who seems sharp as a tack and very trustworthy. It’s odd that it’s in her left hand–Amy’s right-handed—but then when you think about the symptoms of FM and UCTD, it makes sense. 

The downside is she’ll have to quit her job at the golf course for at least 4-6 weeks (and golf itself, too). I’m making enough money that the finances won’t be too tight, but I know it’ll get really tough on her emotionally. She’s never had a cast before (she’ll have a plaster one for two weeks and then plenty of bandaging for a couple more). I have. 

It was literally the last day of school for the year, the end of my fourth grade year. I don’t remember being happier as a kid than when school let out for the summers. Back then, three months was an eternity, a quantifiable percentage of my life. Three months was an eon, an era. The prospect of no homework, no classrooms, none of the kids and teachers I hated, all created a magical release of 9-year-old tension that might have been akin to a much more adult physiological response to pleasure. It was pure, unbridled joy.

 I didn’t have a nice skateboard. I had this tiny blue banana board my parents bought at a garage sale for a dollar. I rode it a lot, depending on who I was getting along with at the time. If the preps and I were cool, I’d ride my Huffy Pro Thunder (the budget Kmart version of the awesome Diamondbacks and Mongooses and Kuwaharas) back and forth to school. But then, for one reason or another I’d be on the outs with them and hanging out with the skater punks. Until they’d start trying to steal stuff and I’d go back to the preps. The trucks on that board were wobbly, the wheels pitted and the width at it widest point was exactly as wide as one foot.

I left school that day on my board, skating as fast as I could down the big hill the school sat atop of, on my way to the baby-sitter’s house where we’d wait for two agonizingly long hours till Mom picked us up. The babysitter’s kid was a spoiled brat. The baby sitter herself was a very beautiful woman whose husband was never around, and she was mean because of it. At least, that’s how I remember it from my 9-year-old perspective. But I didn’t even care that day. I was free, free from responsibility and drudgery and I was elated. I was flying down that hill with a huge grin plastered on my face, wind in my hair, sun shining brightly. I cut across the width of the street in a crouch, aiming for the drive way to her house. I swung perfectly onto the embankment from the street to the curb, the board shot out from under me, I flew forever and then landed on my arm. Greenstick fracture.

Did I mention how much I love to swim? Yeah. Not much of that for the next 8 weeks.

The summer between fourth and fifth grade was the worst ever. 

Okay. Enough reminiscing. I bought Amy and I scooters a few weeks ago. I got a Buddy 125 and she got a Kymco People 50, which she’s already decided isn’t gonna cut it and plans to sell during the recuperation (Her’s looks like this one, except she has a brown seat and grips and a top case instead of a second seat. Why anyone would try to ride double on this thing is beyond me. Anyhoo, it’s got less than 400 miles, gets 75 MPG and up to around 50 MPH, plus it comes with Sportique Scooter’s 2-year full service plan, covering all tune ups and oil changes, etc… With the extras, we’re looking for $2800. Lemme know if you’re interested.) so she can buy a bigger one. Anyhoo, riding these things is pretty freakin’ awesome, and we’re off to the Greek Festival and then over to Erico and Sportique so she can test a few others.